Resilient tire



June 5,1923. l 1,457,512

E. FAVARY RESILIENT TIRE Filed Nov. 1e. 1920 Patented June 5, 1923.

. runire si' s ETHELBERT FAVARY, onNEw YORK, N. Y.

RESILIENT TIRE.

Application .filed Npvember 16, 1920. Seral'N0.,424,407.'

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, ETHELBERT FAVARY, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at borough of Manhattan, city of New York, in the county of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Resilient Tires.; and l do hereby declare the following to be a. full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to resilient tires of the type disclosed and claimed in Patents Nos. 981,253, January 10, 1911 and 1,136,326, April 2o, 1915, and 1,363,856 and 1,363,857, December 28, 1920.

The resiliency of such tires is due not to the elasticity of any of their parts but to the exing of a plurality of circumferential tensioned bands or chains spaced apart by a staggered series of rigid supporting blocks or links. These bands are normally under high tensioneven when the tire is supporting no load and the system is in its normal state of equilibrium. When'the tire is subjected to deforming pressure at one point as in ordinary use, a new force is added, the tension in thebands is still further increased, and the whole system rearra-nges itself. The moment this external force is remo-ved the great tension in the bands will immediately cause the. system to return toits former position. This response to external pressure variations and the return to its normal position when the load is removed is practically immediate, and is comparable to that of a perfectly elastic medium such as a gas. It is much quicker than that of rubber which is of low elastic efficiency. Consequently such tires are adaptable for very high speeds. The secret of success lies in the substantial absence of imperfect elastic media and the reliance upon the action of forces in a iiexib-le and practically non-elastic system. l Nevertheless, it has been discovered that a very small amount ofy extra give in the structure, i. e., in the bands beyond what the material itself contains, or beneath the lowest supporting blocks lends Yadded resiliency to the tire and has beneficial results. A very small degree of elasticity in the parts adds to the resiliency of the tire,

but this added elasticity must not be so large as to cause av decrease in the'tensionjof the bandsfwhe'n an externalload is applied and when the tire is runningat a compara; tivelyhigh rate of-speed. This effect can be vproduced by the insertion of a bit of elastic material between the plies vof the bandsfat points between their supports ya'grid also by resiliently supporting Athe bands, this preferably by placincr a thin layer of elastic l material between the lowest supporting blocks and the rim. It is therefore an object of this invention to increase the resiliency of tires made of substantially n'on-ela st ic material by these means. This small amount of give relieves somewhat the increase in 7o tension in the bands `under rapid external load and consequently makes possible the use of bands of less tensile strengths. This is therefore a lfurther object 'of the invention.

lIn order that the invention may be more clearly understood reference is had to thel accompanying dra-wings, disclosing ,pre-y ferred embodiments thereof and in which- Figure 1 is a view partly in section of'a 80 tire embodying the invention; Figure 2,'is a section taken on line 2 2 yof Fig. 1 vFigure 3 is aplan View of one of thesockets,'the support therefor being partly b-rokeniaway to show thev resilient element; and Figure 4 isa view of a `tire of modified form. v Y

lThe tire shown 1n b'igure l'comprises circumferential bands2 and 3v mounted upon the solid rim 4 of a wheel 5,. These Vbands are built u" of a series of p-liesjof substantially non-e astic, non-stretchable, but pliable fabric material such as rubberized reinforced canvas, but preferably of a special substantially non-stretchable weave, or of chain links. The vouter layers of fabric 1 are part of the 95 tread 6.v The-band 2 upon which thetread band is positioned is highly tensioned and supported upon a series of hollow supporting blocks 7 to which it is securely riveted to prevent circumferential and lateral movement or displacement.` These supporting blocks 7 are in turn similarly supported upon the innermost band 3 and this band 3 is itself supported by a series of rocking members 8 having steel caps 8A to which itr issecurely riveted and which alternate with the sup porting .blocks 7. These lrocking members 8 are seated in a series of sockets y9 held in place upon the rim 4 by. means of abutment's 10' projecting therefrom and cooperating 110 with flanges at one end of each socket. Ilhe inner surface of each socket contains blocks ot graphite 9 baked in grooves therein to decrease friction. rllhe tension band 2 holds the otherwise liabby structurein position. The wheel is provided with side'plates 16, which enclose and protect the inner part of the tire. rlhe general structure ot this tire is the same as that disclosed in Patent 1,363,857.

The operation of this tire may be briefly reviewed as-ollows: rlChe band 2 being highly tensioned bears inwardly at all times upon the band 3 through blocks 7, and this band 3 being somewhat longer than the circumference oit a circle drawn through its points of support is depressed as shown. l/Vhen an external radially acting iorce is exertedupon the tire, as for example on the tread, at 6, added pressure is exerted upon blocks 7, the corresponding depressions in band 3 are deepened, and the rocking members 8 rock slightly towards the points of the highest external pressure. This results in raising the other depressions in the band around a portion of the circumference, which means that some of the blocks 7 are urged Jfurther outward against the tension of band 2. Both plate 13 and rubber sheet 12 are cut away, as shown in Fig. 3, to make room for abutments 10 and flanges 15 of the socket members. As soon therefore as the external pressure is relieved, the system tends to revert to its former state of equilibrium and the depressions in band 3 assume their former positions. During this operation the tension on the bands 2 and 3 and the pressure on blocks 7, rocking members 8 and sockets 9 is increased.

According to the present invention, the slight added resilience is obtained by allowing a slight give in these various members. To accomplish this a small amount of some elastic material is placed between the tread band and band 2, or between the plies of the bands or beneath sockets 9, or in any of these places in combination. As shown most clearly in Figures 1v and 2, this elastic material vconsists of pieces of compressible and preferably corrugated rubber 11 inserted between the plies or the bands, between the tread band and band 2, and a thin sheet of similar material 12 placed between the rim l and sockets 9. llVhen the tension on the bands is increased there is a slight transverse component ot this torce tending to press the several plies closely together. The interposition ot a small amount of yielding material between these plies enables this torce Aactually to decrease the thickness of the band where the rubber is placed and slightly increase their length, thus relieving the eXtra tension somewhat from what it would be without lthis yielding material and producing the necessary deformation in the tire. It must be remembered that this transverse component is relatively very small and that the actual compression of the rubber very slight. 1n order to increase the effectiveness of the rubber positioned beneath sockets 9, the area ot' this rubber might be increased beyond that of the socket itself and in order to distribute the load over this increased area, it might be found desirable to interpose a plate ot metal 13 of an area practically equal to that of the rubber between the socket 9 and the rubber 12.

The tire shown in Figure 4 is an articulated link structure embodying this invention. Here the links may be made double shown as at 14 and the yielding material 11 inserted between the parts. But since tires of this type are intended for heavier loads running at lower speeds this may not be necessary. Sufficient added resiliency may be obtained by the use of a thin sheet of rubber 12 placed between rim 4 and sockets 9.

Although the elastic material has been shown located between the plies of the circumferential bands and between the solid rim and the band supports and it has been shown as used in these places concurrently, it is, ot' course, clear that it might be used in one place only and that only one ot the bands might be modilied or that it might be used under blocks 9 only. Rubberfhas also been instanced as the preferred elastic material. This also is not essential and any other elastic medium might be employed, such for example as metallic springs or the like, but in each case the give must be limited to a small amount so that an external load causes an increase in the tension of the bands. The invention has also been shown in connection with two kinds of non-elastic resilient tires, but its use is not necessarily limited to these. 1t is applicable wherever similar problems arise. i

I claim:

1. In a resilient tire, a plurality of circumterential pliable bands, rigid supports interposed between said bands and fastened thereto, the supports maintaining the bands under tensio-n in a longitudinal direction, and means permitting a slight give in the bands for the purpose described.

2. In a resilient tire, a plurality of circumferential pliable bands, rigid supports interposed between said bands and fastened thereto, and elastic material inserted within one or' the bands permitting a slight give thereof for the purpose described.

3. ln a resilient tire, a plurality of circumferential tensioned fabric bands, rigid supports interposed between said bands and fastened thereto, a tread band positioned upon the outermost tensioned band, and elastic material inserted between the tread band and the outermost tensioned band to permit a slight longitudinal give therein for the purpose described.

4. In combination with a wheel, a resilient tire embodying a plurality of circumferential bands, a plurality of rigid supports interposed in spaced relation to each other between the several bands and between the innermost band and the wheel, maintaining the bands under tension in a longitudinal direction, and elastic material permitting a slight give in the inner supports for the purpose described.

5. In combination with a wheel, a resilient tire embodying a plurality of circumferential bands, a plurality of rigid supports interposed in spaced relation to each other between the several bands and between the innermost band and the wheel and maintaining the bands under tension in a longitudinal direction, and an elastic material situated between the innermost supports and the wheel to lend slight added resiliency to the whole for the purpose described.

6. In combination with a wheel, a resilient tire embodying a plurality of4 circumferential bands, a plurality of rigid supports interposed in spaced relation to each other between the several bands and between the innermost band and the wheel and maintaining the bands under tension in a longitudinal direction, and thin sheets of rubber situated between the innermost supports and the wheel to lend slight added resiliency to the whole.

7. A resilient deformable tire comprising a rigid rim supporting a deformable and in itself flabby structure of practically nonelastic and non-springy tension andv compression members, the tension member being fastened to the compression members, a tension band holding said structure in tension to render it resilient and elastic means permitting a slight give in the tension and compression means and in the tension band for the purpose described. Y

8. A resilient deformable, tire comprising a rigid rim supporting a deformable and in itself flabby mechanical structure of practically non-elastic and non-springy positively connected component parts, a tension band holding said structure in tension to render it resilient and means permitting a slight give in the parts for the purpose described.

9. In a resilient tire, a plurality of circumferential pliable bands, rigid supports interposed between said bands and fastened thereto, the supports maintaining the bands under' tension in a longitudinal direction, and means permitting a slight give in the bands and a consequent rocking of the supports for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

ETHELBERT FAVARY.

Certiicate of Correction.

It ishereby certied that in Letters Patent No. 1,457,512, granted June 5, 1928, upon the application of Ethelbert Favary, of New York, N. Y., for an improvement in Resilient Tires, errors appear in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 29, beginning with the Word Both strike out all to and including the Word members, line 32; same page, after line 77 insert Both plate 13 ami rubber sheet 1Q are out away/,as shown, in Figure 3, to mais@ room fo?a abutmens 10 and flanges 15 of the socket members.,- and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 14th day of August, A. D., 1923.

[SEAL] KAR-L FENNING,

` Act/ng 00mm/wanner of Patents. 

